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BC and Drug Coverage

I recently did some analysis of the BC health care coverage for prescription medications for treating HIV. To my surprise, it would appear that none of them are covered under the provincial prescription drug plan.

Why did I find this surprising? Because this is the very basis of the decision by CIC to refuse my original application. But the teensy detail they failed to mention (and I hadn’t fully grasped) is that in order to obtain “free” medications in British Columbia you must enroll in the grand medical/social experiment. In doing so your detailed medical information is provided to the Centre for Excellence for whatever use they deem.

Further, as it turns out, the Centre for Excellence maintains a strict policy with respect to treatment options. So if your doctor thinks you would be better served by a different treatment option than the ones permitted she probably won’t even mention it to you because she knows it won’t be permitted by this group.

Thus, gaining access to this “free treatment” isn’t part of the health care policy, but rather it is in exchange for agreeing to be a guinea pig in this large medical experiment. It seems to be a harsh basis for a refusal simply because there is a research group that will permit you to trade your medical privacy (so they can obtain something of value from it) in exchange for “free medication”. That sure looks more like the normal arrangement for medical experiments.

Thus, it would seem that CIC’s position is that if there’s someone out there that obtains governmental funding for doing research and you might be willing to exchange something of value (your right to the best treatment option for you specifically and your medical privacy rights) for something that might also be helpful to you, then you’re just ineligible to come to Canada in an economic class – well, at least for British Columbia.

I wish I had known about the nuances of how the system worked several years ago, because this would have been a rather interesting conversation: anyone who doesn’t want to participate in the experimental study group has no coverage. None of the drugs I checked were covered by Fair Pharmacare, which means they don’t count against the cost limit ($10k maximum, lower amounts based on income). Thus, they cannot create excessive demand.

And if someone does wish to participate in the experimental study group they can do so – but it’s a standard commercial exchange. The study group does receive governmental funding, but those funds are used as a quid-pro-quo for something else of value.